Equal pay will be focus of MiraCosta contract talks

OCEANSIDE -- The table is set for another round of contract
negotiations between MiraCosta College and its part-time faculty
union. At its regular meeting Tuesday, MiraCosta's governing board
introduced several items that will be discussed during upcoming
contract talks scheduled to begin next month.

Ed Coate, MiraCosta's vice president of business and
administrative services and the college's chief negotiator, said
the salary schedule will be discussed as will addressing "issues
related to effective use of time." No union members came to
Tuesday's hearing to comment on the announcement.

"We will move forward into negotiations rapidly," Coate
said.

Gary Apeger, president of the MiraCosta College Academic
Assistant Faculty Union, was not present at Tuesday's board
meeting. But he said in a telephone interview that issues of equity
pay and office hours will be at the top of the union's negotiation
list.

"We're looking for a more equitable assignment of office hours
and more equitable pay," he said.

MiraCosta's 107 full-time professors earn more on average than
any other community college in the nation, according to a recent
study published by the National Education Association this
summer.

At MiraCosta, the average salary was more than $98,000 for
full-time faculty during the 2003 school year, the last year for
which ranking data was assembled.

Part-time faculty are paid on an hourly basis. MiraCosta's 360
part-time faculty earned from $57 to $72 an hour this year,
depending on the amount of training and experience they
possess.

While the hourly rate may seem like a lot, instructors are only
paid for time they actually spend in the classroom, meaning most
have to live a nomadic lifestyle, driving from one community
college to another to make enough money to pay the bills.

Apeger said hourly rates still are not equal to the amount paid
to full-time faculty members at MiraCosta.

"Their position is that they have to pay the highest salaries to
attract the very best teachers," Apeger said. "Our position is, if
they can pay for the very best full-time teachers, why can't they
pay for the very pest part-timers?"

At Tuesday's meeting, board members also bid farewell to Andy
Mauro who lost his seat on the board to part-time community college
teacher Jacqueline Simon in the Nov. 2 election.

All six remaining board members expressed their sorrow that
Mauro would no longer serve on the board.